When they were successful last year, it was right after they made him a starter and KG a center. They went on a 3-month stretch of defense as good as any in NBA history. Not even hyperbole on my part, it's actually quantifiable.

He's definitely one of the premier on the ball perimeter defenders in the league. He's just a rabid dog in that respect. This does a few things for them:

1. It eats up shot clock. Teams do not get into their sets until there are like 15 seconds left. Makes people easier to defend.

2. It wears down ballhandlers.

3. It allows Rondo to conserve energy for offense.

4. While Rondo has made several All-Defensive teams, he is actually not that tremendous on the ball. Like Chris Paul, he makes those teams for his team defense. He floats around like a free safety, jumps passing lanes, swipes at bigs with the ball, and is just a general nuisance. With Bradley pressuring the ball, that is a pretty sick combo. he might not be the one to get the steal, but he will force a bad pass and someone else will get it.

5. Because they force a lot of turnovers, it leads to a lot of easy points and often big runs.

6. That KG guy. He also benefits greatly defensively. The shortened shot clock helps to mask our lack of size inside, and KG is also thus allowed to carry less of the defensive load. He and Bradley are also perhaps the best defensive pick-and-roll combo ever. A huge strength for their defense that became a huge weakness with Bradley injured. That right there may very well be the biggest difference between the Cs team of the second half of last year and the Cs team that started this one. They had definitely lost a step defensively, no question. Second game back, the Pacers shoot 32% for the game with 18 TOs.

7. Offensively, he was hitting 3s well enough at 40%, but he is very good at cutting to the basket for easy buckets. That's something that none of their other SGs have been giving them the last couple of years.

8. Last... it should be noted that when Ray got all butthurt at losing his starting job last year, not one of his teammates opposed the move. Wish we still had him as a bench player, but Bradley's our guy now.